TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Partisan media diminishes quality of democracy in RI, say experts
Experts have warned that Indonesiaâs mass media, especially television channels, have delivered poor quality news coverage of the 2014 elections, forcing the public to seek out unconventional information sources that have not yet been proven to be reliable or accurate
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
E
xperts have warned that Indonesia's mass media, especially television channels, have delivered poor quality news coverage of the 2014 elections, forcing the public to seek out unconventional information sources that have not yet been proven to be reliable or accurate.
'Lacking information about the latest updates on political situations, people have started to find information from unreliable sources, such as a number of suddenly popular blogs about whose reliability we cannot be sure,' a Media Regulator and Regulation Observer (PR2Media) researcher, Puji Riyanto, said in a discussion in Yogyakarta on Saturday.
He said such a situation could endanger the quality of democracy in Indonesia.
The PR2Media research has revealed that the news policies of private television stations in Indonesia have been distorted by the economic and political interests of their owners. It further said that 10 television stations that broadcast nationally belonged to only four media groups, namely PT Media Nusantara Citra, PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi, PT Visi Media Asia and CT Corp.
'Most of the media tycoons who own the television stations have become politicians and they have used their media to achieve their political goals,' said Puji.
He said the media outlets, such as TV One, Metro TV, MNC Group and newspapers under the Jawa Pos Group, were proven to have taken sides with their owners who participated in the presidential race.
The researcher said such partisan media had tended to create a good impression of their owners and unfairly 'sank' their competitors.
'The situation has been made worse by their journalists' paternalistic cultures, in which they tend to define themselves as workers who have to support the political interests of their owners,' said Puji.
He went on the say that the partisan media had meant the public were unable to identify reliable and accurate information on candidates that they might need when deciding who they should vote for in the election.
Meanwhile, Yogyakarta State University (UNY) media expert, Bayu Wahyono, said the mass media in Indonesia had been relatively difficult to control. They continued their unbalanced reporting on certain presidential candidates despite criticisms.
'Metro TV and TV One have shown that they take sides with their preferred presidential and vice presidential candidates, worsening dissension within Indonesian society that has been torn apart. This is very dangerous,' he said.
Bayu reminded that dissension within the Indonesian people had been alarming and this could potentially trigger horizontal conflicts. Mass media, as one of pillars of democracy should not have adopted such a hypocritical news policy, he added.
'We have clear regulations on the media and we also have the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) but it has been toothless in regulating the media,' said Bayu. (ebf)
